The Courageous One
by Apple Bottom
Summary: Meredith Cullen. She's a daughter, a sister, an aunt and a vampire. Her afterlife has really sucked lately, until she meets someone she didn't expect to see again. Is history about to repeat itself? Or will this just be another tragedy? After BD. OC/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. That belongs to Stephenie Meyer. Meredith and Christopher belong to me.**

**A/N: This story takes place in the world of Twilight (post Breaking Dawn) with an OC being the main character. The Cullen's are there, and it's cannon pairing. This is just an idea that somehow formed in my mind, and I had to write it down. I'm just tweaking chapter one at the moment so that will be up soon as well. Let me know what you think.**

Preface.

I was running. Faster than I had ever run in my entire life. I couldn't stop, or slow down, not even for a second. That second could mean the difference between life and death.

I knew exactly where I was going; I was sure I could feel him from half way around the world if I tried. One of the many benefits of being me.

How on earth had it come to this? Alice hadn't even seen it coming. Well, not until it was too late anyway. If only I had been more careful, paid more attention, this wouldn't have happened.

I was close now, so, so close. There was a building up ahead, and I knew that was the place I needed to be. I was only a few meters from the entrance when I smelled it. Blood. His blood. Was I too late? Had I failed? I shook that thought away. The consequences of failing were inconceivable.

I held my breath, pushed the door open, and walked inside.

**A/N: Please Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, just Meredith and Christopher.**

**A/N: Riverpool is a fictional town that I just made up, and my vision of the future was made to fit with the story.**

Vampire.

I would miss the summer holidays; it was always a sad time of the year when they came to an end. I understood why we had to go back to high school, to fit in and all that, but that didn't mean I had to like it.

In fact I hated high school with a passion, as did all of my siblings. We had been through it so many times before, listening to the same information from our teachers, hearing the comments from other students about us, and all the while having to act human.

That's right. I, Meredith Cullen, wasn't human. I hadn't been for a very long time now, not since the twentieth century. It might surprise you how little things have changed. Sure, the green revolution in the late twenty first century meant that everything was significantly more eco friendly and the technology and sciences were more advanced, but it wasn't like we lived on the moon or drove hover crafts around everywhere.

It is now the year 2344 and we live in a small town called Riverpool in New Hampshire, America. I was not from America originally, but I had been living there for the better part of the last three hundred years, thanks to the Cullen's.

To this day I still count myself lucky that I found them, or that they found me. I'm still not sure what brought us together but I am forever thankful that it did. Well, I am thankful ninety nine point nine percent of the time. You know how families can be.

It's a typical afternoon in the Cullen household. Nessie was on the phone to her daughter, Sarah, chatting away about whatever they decided to talk about. Jasper and Emmett were battling away on some new virtual video game they had brought the other day. It had been going on for a while now and we had become accustomed to the random yells and shouts coming from what was now dubbed the 'games room'. Meanwhile, Alice and Rose were on the computer ordering yet more clothes to their never ending wardrobe. Esme could be found outside gardening, and Carlisle was with her, sitting on a bench reading a book, occasionally giving his opinion when it was asked for. Jake was in the garage, fixing his car or something. Then there was Edward who was playing the piano while Bella sat next to him listening.

And me? I was bored.

If the truth should be told, I had been bored for the last ten years or so, ever since that incident with the nomad vampire, and my...torture, shall we say. I had found that most of the things that used to take up so much of my time didn't appeal to me so much anymore. I hadn't picked up my guitar in a couple of years now, and any artwork or photography I did tended to come out dark and gloomy. When I picked up a book, no matter the genre, I put it down again after reading about five pages. I couldn't bring myself to accept Emmett's challenges to wrestle, or even to race; I knew I would win anyway.

If I were still human, one might say that I had depression. The problem was, for people like us, there was no medication and no psychologist to help you out of this slump. The closest I had was Carlisle, who was a medical doctor. He could only speculate, or make suggestions, but a mental illness wasn't something he could cure. One of his suggestions was to take a holiday, see some old friends, take in the scenery. I tried, but nothing on that holiday impressed me at all.

Maybe it wasn't a mental illness. Maybe when my family had saved me, something had gone wrong with my recovery. Maybe I hadn't been put back right and there was a glitch somewhere in my brain. All I know for sure is that I am damaged, broken somehow. Rose once said that I had always been mentally retarded, but I think that was only because she was having a bad day. Whatever it is, it's left me numb to nearly everything.

Nessie was about the only one I could smile for these days. It was hard not to sometimes, she's still the most adorable little sister ever, even though she was fully grown and a mother, and now a grandmother to boot.

She would often play some music to cheer me up. She was great at playing the piano, just like her dad, and her music did make me feel better most days. But she couldn't always be there, and she shouldn't have to look after her older sister like that. I hated being a burden to her.

Edward's playing a new tune now, a lighter tune. I soon recognised it as the song that Nessie plays to cheer me up. He must have heard my thoughts. I appreciated his concern, though it's rather unexpected.

Edward is my least favourite brother, and I am pretty sure I'm his least favourite sister, except for maybe Rose. I found him quite annoying really, mostly because of the whole mind reading thing, but also because he was such a sook when he didn't get his way. Oh, and when we first met, he tried to attack me. Emphasis on _tried_.

It turned out that I was faster than him, and I think that was where his distaste for me started. That, and I tried to annoy him any chance I got simply because it was amusing to piss him off.

Yes, we had healthy brother/sister relationship.

I pulled out of my musings, stopped staring at the ceiling, and stood up from the armchair I was sprawled over. I had heard Nessie hang up the phone and mutter to herself distractedly.

"What's up Ness? Sarah okay?" I asked, a little concerned.

"What? Oh yeah, she's fine. She says high by the way. Misses everyone, but they're having a great time in London," her face then looked hopefully up at me. She only wore that expression when she wanted something. O oh. "Say Red, do you think that you can do me a favour and go into town to get some groceries?"

'Red', short for Meredith, was the nick-name I was given by my siblings. I can't remember who started it, but it was me who started calling Nessie 'Chip' after we watched 'Beauty and the Beast'. The little tea cup had the cutest voice and I couldn't help but think of Nessie.

"Err, I guess. But why?" I hadn't been to the supermarket in years. That was usually Nessie's or Esme's job.

"I was going to cook dinner tonight for Jake, and it's almost six and I haven't even started, and I need a few ingredients," she said in a rush. I could see why she asked me, everyone else was preoccupied. Well, at least it gives me _something_ to do.

"What did you need?"

"Just some gravy mix, and a chicken. Actually, make it two chickens. Jake is a big boy," Nessie giggled. I rolled my eyes. Those two were so ridiculous, even after all these years of marriage. But I guess that can be said for most of my family. Love-crazed, the lot of them.

"Okay, I'm out of here then," and with that, I headed down to the garage.

I found Jake's legs sticking out from under his car, and said as I was passing, "Need anything at the supermarket?" he then rolled out from under the car and looked at me in surprise.

"You, going to get groceries? Surely I didn't hear you right?" Jake seemed to only be able to talk in sarcasm around me. The times when he didn't were few and far between.

"I'll take that as a no," I said as I reached my car.

"Hey I never said that!"

"Well, do you?" I asked a little annoyed

"No," he grinned cheekily at me before rolling back under the car. I rolled my eyes again. Dumb dog. I was getting his dinner, he should be nicer to me.

I didn't spare him another glance as I got into my mini cooper, and sped away from the house.

I loved my car. Rose had altered some of the mechanics of the car to make it go faster, something I was very happy about. The car looked like a mini cooper from the early twenty first century, very similar to the first car my family brought me.

Cars now days were run very differently than they were back then. They were called ECO cars, and much better for the environment, though very expensive when they first came out in 2065. But now everyone had them and prices weren't so high. They also ran smoother, with safety features that made it almost impossible to crash, and you could chose what shell you wanted on the car. I guess I'm sentimental. The rest of my family is too, with Edward choosing a silver Volvo shell, Alice a banana yellow sports car, and Rosalie had a cherry red convertible.

It only took me about ten minutes to get into town at the speed I was travelling. Riverpool wasn't very large; it only had a population of about eight thousand, which was rare these days. The supermarket was on the other side of town, closer to the freeway, as were most of the shops and facilities.

I had to travel through the developed area of town, where ninety five percent of the town's population lived, to get there. The house styles became older as I travelled further into town, an indication of how the town had slowly expanded as the population grew.

I preferred living in small towns than in a city, as we had done in the past. The cities were restricting and full of people. You had to be extra careful about how you acted and what you did, and you had to do it all the time. There was no relief from that, it was constant. And if you wanted to hunt or just go for a run, you couldn't just jump out your back window for fear of being caught. No, I was defiantly a country girl.

Though living in the city did have a couple of advantages. It had a better variety of shops, that is if you're a keen shopper like Alice or Rose. They also usually had a university nearby, or as Americans like to call it, college.

College was a major factor when we decided to move back to Riverpool just over a year ago. It was located just west of the White Mountain National Forest, and only about a half hour drive north away from Dartmouth. Emmett, Rose, Alice and Jasper were keen to do another round of college. They were starting this year as freshmen, having graduated from high school in Riverpool before the summer holidays. As for the rest of us; Edward and Bella were coming into their junior year, while Nessie, Jake and I were starting our senior year. Again.

Nessie and Jake were starting to look a bit old for high school. I mean they looked closer to their mid twenties, and it was getting harder to convince people that they were only seventeen - now eighteen. Rose suggested that we simply tell everyone that Jake had to repeat a couple of years before we came here because he was dyslexic. She's good like that. Anyway, it was agreed when this year was finished Nessie and Jake wouldn't go through high school again.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do after high school. I didn't really care. It didn't make any difference one way or another.

I could go to collage again. That way I could spend more time with Nessie, and my other siblings. But what was I going to study this time? Collage was getting almost as boring as high school. I already knew more than most of the professors there, so what was the point?

I decided not to think about it too much as I turned my car into the supermarket car park. I would ponder that another time. Right now I had to solve the mystery of shopping at a grocery store. Surely it hadn't changed too much since the twenty third century? I was going to find out soon at any rate.

I parked my car and checked my reflexion in the rear view mirror. It was a habit of mine. For some reason I always had to look at myself before exiting the car. Perhaps Rose was rubbing off on me.

My reflexion hadn't changed one bit since 1989, so I don't know why I even bothered. I was 5 foot seven and a half, with an athletic body that allowed me to kick my brother's butt when we raced, and came in quite handy in a fight. I had dark, wildly curly hair that fell past my shoulders, and a slightly round face that held a dimple at the bottom of my chin. I looked enough like Emmett to be considered his real sister, so that was the story that we told the humans.

The entrance to the supermarket had a big sign over the top of it saying 'SUPERMARKET'. How original, I thought dully. Clearly it hadn't changed one bit.

The rest of the store was simple enough to find my way around. In fact I found everything I needed in less than four minutes. And as a bonus, the gravy mix was on special, not that money was an issue for us Cullens.

It was as I was standing in line at the express checkout, wondering how the taste of chicken could possibly be appealing to humans, that I saw him.

He stood at about 6'3, with lean muscles. His hair was a light brown colour that fell into his eyes. He had a strong chin with a sharp jaw line. His lips were a little on the thinner side and his nose was slightly crooked at the top, like it had been broken at some point. This brought me to his eyes. They were almond shaped, with the bluest shade of blue I had ever seen. They were perhaps his most attractive feature. Though his entire face wasn't unpleasant, it also wasn't one that would have stopped a crowd, or even have stood out in one. He looked to be in his late teens or early twenties. It was hard to tell because he hadn't shaved in a couple of days.

I took in his appearance with little interest, dismissing him as nothing special. He was standing behind the counter, lazily shoving items through the scanner for the customer in front of me. Just another stupid person going their stupid life in this dreary town. I looked away and continued my fascinating thoughts on human taste buds. But something was niggling at the back of my mind.

I took another look at his eyes, and then at his name tag. _Christopher_, it read. Then it clicked.

His eyes were familiar to me; I should have picked up on them earlier. I had seen them once before on a young boy I had met about thirteen years ago. He couldn't have been more than five or six years old then. But here he was now, fully grown into a man, working at the checkout counter of our local supermarket.

Fuck.

I had only just realised this as it came my turn to pay. So I kept my head down while he scanned the items. He barely even looked at me, until he announced; "That will be $38.90," in a bored voice. He then looked up expectantly.

I handed him the money as quickly as I could without drawing attention. He was taking longer than usual to get the change out of the till. I wondered why until I glanced up at him. He was staring at me. Well, that wasn't unusual. Men stared at me all the time, and so did women sometimes, though not always for the same reason. But in this case, I couldn't work out if it was because he had recognised me, or because of how I looked. He didn't say anything as he handed me my change, and I was careful not to touch him.

I walked as fast as humanly possible back to my car and placed the groceries on the back seat before hopping into the driver's seat. Shit, shit, shit! How was this possible? Someone I had met years ago in another state, lived in the same place that we had decided to move to years later. I mean, America was huge, so the odds were astronomical. Alice couldn't have even predicted this.

This was a problem. I was supposed to be an eighteen year old girl from Alaska. If the human remembered me, and he was clever enough, he could find out my family's secret, and then there would be serious consequences.

I quickly started my car up and took off the way I had come. This was a fluke, a one in a billion chance, that was all. I then grimaced as I recalled the words Carlisle's once spoke to me all those years ago.

It could take just one stroke of bad luck to expose us for what we really are; Vampires.

**A/N: Please Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, just Meredith and Christopher.**

**A/N: This might be the last chapter I write unless I get a few more reviews. Am I wasting my time on this story? Please, please let me know!**

Déjà vu.

I drove like a crazy person all the way home, doing a speed that probably wouldn't even register on a speed camera if there were one around. I zoomed my car into the garage next to Edwards Volvo and turned off the engine.

I was over reacting. There was no way he could have recognised me, he was so young back then.

Even so, I would need to make the family aware of the situation. I hopped out of the car, grabbed the groceries from the back seat and headed for the kitchen.

Everyone was already assembled around the dining room table, looking at me expectantly. Of course, Alice had already told them something was up. I wondered how much they knew.

"Meredith," Carlisle said in a concerned but gentle voice as I entered the kitchen, "what happened?" I sighed and dropped the groceries onto the bench, before moving to an empty chair beside Esme.

"Well, I may have run into a...complication," I started. I paused, not sure exactly how to explain the situation.

"Why don't you just start at the beginning?" suggested Edward from opposite me, next to Bella. I hated it when he did that. The corner of his mouth twitched.

"Okay, it all started about thirteen years ago when we were living in Springfield,"

"That long ago?" Interrupted Emmett, "Is this going to take a while? Because I was in middle of kicking Jaspers ass at-" He was cut off by Rose hitting him on the head.

"Please continue Meredith," Esme said, giving Emmett a pointed look. I also glared at Emmett before continuing.

"Well, I was out one day at the mall because I had run out of photo paper, and the art shop there was only place that supplied the stuff that I like. It was getting late, so there weren't many shoppers around. As I was leaving the mall, I noticed an older man harassing a little kid who was playing near the kids play section. The boy couldn't have been more than five or six, and I could tell right away that the man was not his parent by the way he kept backing away from the man. There was no one else around, and I'm sure if I didn't intervene, he would have taken the child. So, I pretended to be the boy's babysitter and told the man to rack off. Which he did, naturally. I took him to the security office in the building and waited while they called up his mother over the speaker. Eventually she came, and it sounded like she had run all the way there. She thanked me and we briefly talked. She told me they were just visiting her sick mother for the weekend. The child, Chris was his name; never spoke a word except to tell us his mother's name. He just kept looking at me. It turned out he had snuck away from his mother while she was in a shop so he could go play on the play equipment. Anyway, they left not long after that, and so did I."

"It's great that you got to play the hero again Meredith, but I don't see that as a complication," Emmett said in a slightly irritated tone. The man knew no patience.

"It's a complication, Emmett, because he lives right here, in Riverpool. In fact, he works at the local grocery store, as I just found out."

"Oh."

"Are you sure it was him?" Nessie asked.

"Positive."

"Did he recognise you?" was Jasper's question.

"I'm not sure. He did look at me in an odd way, but that might be because I'm, well..."

"Dazzling?" Bella put in, smiling.

"Different," I corrected. I then turned to Alice to ask her what she saw, but she beat me to the punch, as usual.

"I don't see anything out of the ordinary. But that might mean he just decided to keep quiet for the moment. We'll have to get Edward to read his thoughts to know for sure."

"Okay. And I think maybe I shouldn't buy the groceries from now on either."

"Sure. But your 'playing the hero' got you into this mess you realise? You should be more careful." Rose was quick to reply.

"So, what? Should I have just let that monster take the boy?"

"Well...things like that happen every day,"

"But it's not every day that you witness it happening, that you could save a life."

"At the risk of exposing your family?"

"How is our life any better than theirs? And besides, how was I supposed to know he lived in the same town we hadn't yet decided to move to? The worst that will happen is that we would have to move again, it's not like the human can expose us, he probably doesn't even remember me."

"Of course my life is worth more than theirs! And we're about to start collage this year, I don't want to move. The things you do for these humans when they have done nothing for you...there is something wrong with you." I thought that was an unfair statement considering what I had been through, and not to mention Carlisle's occupation.

"No, there's something wrong with you," I said, frowning. "Why don't you care Rose? Huh? That child could have been molested, abused or worse. I thought you of all people would understand."

That, apparently, was the wrong thing to say. Rose stood up swiftly, glaring at me with angry eyes. I glared right back. Rose stuck up her nose and walked dramatically out of the room. She made me think for a moment that I had made a mistake by saving the boys life. But then I came to my senses and realised that Rose was just being Rose, and that she was too self centred to have this conversation with. I didn't regret what I did, I knew in my heart it was the right thing to do. I would just have to deal with the consequences of my actions.

Esme put an arm around me in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture, but I wasn't in the mood for sympathy. Indeed, I would have been more at ease if someone had yelled at me, or even just told me off for being careless. I didn't need a pity party. I needed the situation to be dealt with, so it could just go away and leave me alone.

I gently pushed Esme's arm off my shoulder and left the room without another word. I knew that they were giving each other looks of concern when my back was turned and that they would start talking about me as soon as I was out of ear shot. I hated that, but the way I acted sometimes, I couldn't blame them.

I didn't like to upset Esme, but I was never one for hugs and kisses. These displays of affection made me feel uncomfortable, and sometimes, when it involved a couple, I either had to look away, or leave the room. Nights are the worst. Being the only single person in a house full of couples, along with my vampire hearing, meant I would inadvertently have to listen in on things that I'd really rather not. It was better to just leave the house altogether when this happened.

Which was what I was doing right now, but for a different reason. I just need some alone time, to think without being interrupted or worry about Edward overhearing something private.

I ran out across the back yard and into the wilderness beyond. There was one place I liked go when I wanted some peace. It was isolated and beautiful. I had discovered back when I had first moved here with the Cullen's. The family atmosphere could be overwhelming and it was nice to be on your own for a while.

Don't get me wrong, I love my family to pieces. It's just that I spent the first couple decades of my immortal life on my own, and it was a bit of a shock when I first found them.

I had arrived at my little piece of paradise. It was a clearing at the bottom of a small rocky cliff face. The cliff was only about ten meters high, and at its base ran a small river that flowed steadily. The river and cliff were curved in a U shape that meant there was a large sand back at its bend, like a mini beach. The sand bank spread about twenty meters in diameter, before it gave way to trees and shrubs.

It was untouched and perfect.

Its beauty didn't affect me as it once did. I was no longer inspired, or in awe of it. It was simply a place to go, out of habit, when I needed to get away.

I sat on the sand bank and watched the sky as the stars started to come out. They were pretty, I suppose. But they were so old, far away, untouchable, and in the end they were irrelevant. Our sun was the only one that mattered to this planet, the only star that we had to worry about.

I used to look at the stars from my bedroom window. One Christmas I received a telescope from Bella and Nessie. It was a real high tech one, so you could see further, observe more. I decided to study astronomy that year in college and I was fascinated by everything I learnt and saw.

But now the telescope was in a box, somewhere in the attic, gathering dust.

I sighed and closed my eyes. I opened up my senses and got lost in the sounds, smells, and feeling of everything around me. This was the only way I could relax.

I had been sitting here for so long now; the sun was starting to peek over the trees. I could see it through my closed eyelids. Time to head back.

I got to my feet swiftly, and ran out of the clearing, back home.

As I started to get closer and closer to home, I could feel each family member's presence growing stronger and stronger.

My talent, as it was called, was being able to feel where people are, even if they are further enough away that I can't hear or see them. If I'm familiar enough with the person's presence, like I am with my family, I can tell where they are even if they are miles and miles away. It had come in handy on more than one occasion.

When I got home, Alice informed me that she had had a vision of the human attending high school with us this year. Great. Another potential complication. I didn't recall him being there last year though.

...

A few days later, I asked Edward if he had read the boys mind yet.

"I've tried, but each time I do he is not thinking about you, which is probably a good sign," was his optimistic reply. He then added, "I'll find out more at school, when he see's you and _has_ to think of you." Good, it'll be sorted once and for all.

After out disagreement, Rose ignored me for a whole week, but was forced to acknowledge my presence by Esme when they left for Dartmouth on Sunday so they could get settled into their apartment. They would be travelling back on weekends though, and it was only a thirty minute drive away. Still, Esme insisted we say goodbye to each other, and though all Rose offered was a stiff 'bye', it was enough to appease our mother.

The rest of Sunday was spent hunting, for school started on Monday and we all liked to be well fed before being forced to sit in a classroom full of people.

The oddest thing happened on Sunday night though. It was like a strange sense of déjà vu. Except vampires can remember every detail of their life once they're turned, so it didn't quite make sense.

I was lying on the couch in the lounge room, staring blankly at the TV. The show wasn't very interesting, but Jake found it funny for some reason. Nessie came running into the room for about the fifth time to show me another top she had found in her wardrobe that I should wear to school.

She was hoping to get me out of my shadowy coloured clothes and into something brighter and happy. I was about to tell her no to this top when I had barely glanced at it, when the words died on my tongue. I did a double take.

It looked familiar, though I had never seen it before while I was a vampire. It was more like I had seen it in a dream before, though I hadn't slept a wink since I was human. It was a fairly simple shirt, light blue and made out of a cottony material with buttons down the front. The small white collar and sleaves made it cute, and something I would have worn if it were black or grey.

I closed my eyes and tried to remember a time I had tried to forget. It was the only time of my immortal life that I didn't have a totally clear account of, so it made sense that whatever I was looking for was there. I referred to it as the darkness.

During those months I had gone a bit crazy. I couldn't see anything, hear anything, I didn't know where I was, and I was all by myself. I had imagined things then, imagined that people I knew were there talking to me, that I was not alone. It was all I could do to keep myself company, to keep myself sane, for in my craziness, I had started to see random images. I remembered them now.

A blue shirt, a phone dropping to the floor, a clear blue sky, soft human skin under a pale hand, and blood, lots of blood.

I gasped as I snapped my eyes open to stop the flow of images. Nessie and Jake were both looking at me with wide eyed concern. I looked away, and found Carlisle and Bella's looking at me with the same expression.

God, I had to stop making a scene. It's funny how when I wanted the least attention I always seemed to get more than my share. I would have happily handed it over to Rose if I could; she loved to be the center of attention.

"It's nothing, I'm fine," I was all I could say. They never believed me when I said this. My behaviour was anything but fine, but they learnt not press the matter. I stood up and took the shirt from Nessie's hands. "Thanks Chip, I think this one will be great for school." She looked at me with a mixture of surprise and happiness.

"Really?" she asked. I nodded to her. "That's great! What are you going to wear with it?"

"Um," I hadn't thought that far ahead, "just my jeans, boots and leather jacket." Her face fell slightly, but before she could argue, I raced upstairs. Clearly she had thought she'd made a breakthrough with me, or at least my wardrobe choices. She grew up in a house with Alice, and when Alice wasn't home, Nessie was the fashion police.

When I was safely in my room, my brain was buzzing. Those images I'd seen, did they mean something? Or had I really just gone crazy? The latter seemed the more likely explanation; it could just be a coincidence. Maybe I was looking far too much into it. Visions were Alice's thing not mine. I would talk to her next weekend when she came home.

As I was hanging the blue shirt on a hanger, a thought then occurred to me.

If they did mean something, and it was a long shot that they did, what were they warning me about?

**A/N: Penny for your thoughts?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.**

School.

We had all become so accustomed to creating the facade of a human existence that it was automatic for now, something we barely even had to think about. Nessie and Edward were posing as brother and sister, the Mason's, while the rest of us went by the name Cullen with the story that we were all adopted. The usual routine of dressing for school, assembling school books, and in everyone's case but mine, taking off wedding bands, took place before we hopped into Edwards Volvo.

I mechanically reminded myself to speak in an American accent if I was forced to talk to anyone. I wasn't the best actor, even though I had spent hours in the past doing impressions of people or characters to entertain my family, or myself, so my fake American accent was enough to fool the humans. But my family, being able to hear my slight drawl, often gave me crap about it, or laughed at it sometimes. Especially Jasper for some reason, perhaps because he was such a patriot when he was human, who knows.

We arrived at school, and got the usual looks and comments from student. 'Oh, look, it's the Cullen's' 'Oh my gosh, Edward is so hot' 'Stuck up rich kids' 'Great, the bitch is here'. That last comment was directed at me. I had gained a reputation at Riverpool High for being a bit rude and arrogant, and it was partially earned by my clothing style-badass. I didn't mind the comments one bit, it kept everyone at bay.

Unlike Nessie whom everyone loved, and she didn't mind the interaction with other students. She gained admirers everywhere she went, something that didn't go unnoticed by her parents or husband.

I had heard several remarks from humans wondering how we could be friends when we were so...different. They had no idea.

The first three periods of school went by without incident. I hadn't seen the boy Christopher yet, for which I was kind of grateful. I would have to see him at some point though, maybe at lunch, or after school. The moment came sooner than I had anticipated.

Nessie and I shared fourth period geography, and we chose seats close to the back of the classroom where we would hopefully get the least attention. We had arrived a few minutes early to get these seats, so we watched as the rest of the class piled in to the room to take theirs. The teacher arrived last and was about to shut the door when someone came rushing in. It was him.

He apologised profusely to the teacher and mumbled, "I forgot where the geography room was."

The teacher, Mrs. Humphry I recalled, didn't look angry or annoyed, indeed she had an overly sympathetic look on her face, something I didn't think was possible for her. Whispers about 'the new kid' started to buzz around the room. Humans and their gossip, when would they learn to mind their own business? I blocked them out, uninterested.

Christopher then moved to the only free chair in the room, which was two seats in front of me. As he moved down the aisle he caught my eye and looked at me in astonishment. He'd paused long enough to gain a few looks, and he blushed slightly before sitting down hastily. I felt Nessie elbow me lightly in the ribs.

"What was that about?" she whispered loud enough for only me to hear.

"What do you mean?" I said, taking my eyes off the back of Christopher's head to look at her.

"You were glaring at that new kid...oh! He's the one isn't he, the one from the supermarket? He's kind of cute you know, for a human." I looked at her exasperated.

"That boy could remember me from years ago, find out we're vampires, and expose our family to the world, and you think he's 'cute'?"

"What? I was just saying..." she said innocently.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Despite her intelligence and age, she was such a kid sometimes. Not that I was one to talk, but at least I knew when things needed to be taken seriously.

I tried to look like I was paying attention in class but my gaze kept being drawn to the back of his head, and I spent most of the lesson scowling at it. The blush that he acquired at the start of the lesson had moved to the back of his neck, like he knew I was staring. I would be lying if I said this didn't make my mouth water just a tad.

When the bell went to signal lunch, Nessie and I were almost the first ones out of the door, despite being at the back of the class. As we walked passed him, I felt, rather than saw his eyes follow me out of the classroom, but I didn't look back.

When we reached the cafeteria, Bella, Edward and Jacob were already there, having had classes in the main building. Edward and Bella were sitting close to each other, being all mushy and stuff, while Jake was looking bored, until he caught sight of Nessie walking towards him and he started grinning like an idiot.

It was like I didn't exist really, not that I minded too much. But still, a nice 'hello' once in a while didn't go unacknowledged.

"Hello," said Edward, not looking away from Bella. Oh yeah, hilarious.

"Cute," was my reply. A thought then occurred to me. "Hey, did you hear what the human, I mean Christopher, was thinking during last period did you?"

"No why?"

"He was in our last class, and he saw me so I just thought that you might have caught that," I said, a little peeved.

"Oh, well I was a bit...distracted," he said sheepishly, _still_ looking at Bella. I realised that he must have had his last class with Bella, because nothing else would have made him miss me repeating his name over and over in my head during that last hour. Great.

The next couple of minutes passed with me brooding about how the one time I need Edwards help he's _distracted_. Surely it's not that hard to spare a few moments to make sure _your entire family's existence isn't at stake!_

I mentally yelled that last part for Edwards benefit. He flinched slightly and looked like he was going to say something, but at that moment, _he_ walked into the cafeteria.

I felt him before I saw him and looked in his direction instinctively. He was making his way over to the lunch line, which was on the other side of the room, so he hadn't spotted me yet. Edward, having paid attention this time, turned his head a fraction, obviously trying to read the humans thoughts.

Christopher, now with a tray of food in his hands, turned and started walking in the direction of the seats, then paused, looking around as if not sure where to sit. In his scanning of the room he looked over in our direction. I didn't look away in time. Actually, I didn't look away at all.

His eyes flicked to each of us, taking us in like all the new students do. When his eyes fell on me, he didn't look away. I scowled at him, thinking he'd looked long enough. But he kept staring. I started to get irritated and let the full force of my intimidating glare fall on him.

It didn't quite have the result I intended. Instead of getting scared and running away, he got an angry look on his face.

Interesting.

He did end up looking away, but out of what appeared to be anger rather than fear. He then proceeded to march determinately through the doors to the outside seating area.

_Well, at least he was gone_, I thought as I felt his presence grow weaker. I looked over at Edward expectantly, as did everyone else at our table.

"I didn't hear any thoughts that would cause us worry," was all he offered. I had a feeling there was more he heard that he wasn't sharing.

"But...what was he thinking?" I pressed.

"Nothing important. But you did upset him when you glared at him, that wasn't entirely fair," he said, finally looking at me.

"No shit Sherlock," I muttered. Since when did he get all sympathetic with humans? Not many people could look me in the eye when I got angry. It made them feel uncomfortable, which was the whole point of me glaring at him in the first place.

I'm not sure why I seemed so determined to scare the boy. He was a little unnerving. Maybe I felt the need to unnerve him back?

Eh, it didn't matter. He didn't matter, not now that he wasn't a threat. With nothing left to keep my interest, I started counting the bricks that could be seen in the cafeteria walls.

...

Fifth period math was actually quite peaceful, for there were a few spare seats so I didn't have to sit next to anyone. Last period Literature was a different story altogether.

I was one of the first to arrive, as usual, and chose a seat on the side of the classroom with windows, near the back. I glared at everyone that came near me, and they avoided me accordingly. But, for the second time today, I had a class with Christopher, and again, he arrived last.

I realised too late that the only spare seat was next to me. Seriously, this was some kind of joke, it had to be. How was I supposed to avoid him now?

He slouched down the aisle towards me. I glared the whole time, wondering what I had done to deserve this. He, on the other hand, had decided to ignore me once he realised who he had to sit next to. Maybe he had the right idea.

He sat down carefully in his seat, as far away from me as he could I noticed, and avoided looking in my direction. Okay, two could play at that game. So I looked straight ahead and tried to pay attention to what the teacher was saying.

It worked fairly well, not once did I look at him. But that didn't stop me from taking in his scent, or hearing his rapid breathing and heartbeat, which was a little faster than average. Humans had a natural reaction of fear when they saw us vampires, it was nothing unusual.

It was a relief when the bell rang, it meant that it was time to go home, and relax from the facade I had to put up. I gathered my books quickly and left the room. Again, I knew Christopher was watching me go.

"Stupid human," I grumbled to myself, and headed towards the parking lot.

When I arrived at the car, I was the only one there. The others decided to take their own sweet time while I stood here by myself getting looks, not many of them to my liking, from other students who walked passed. When they finally did make it a few minutes later, I was a little pissed.

"About time you guys turned up," I growled. They look at me surprised, and I realised how rude I was being. But I didn't care at this point, getting out of this place as soon as possible was my priority.

"What's your problem?" Jake asked with raised eyebrows. I tried not to think of my last period but...

"How was your last period Red?" Edward teased. Oh yeah, so now he decided to pay attention. Jerk.

"Fine. Let's just go okay?" I muttered. Not waiting for an answer, I quickly climbed into the Volvo and shut the door. The others waited a few more seconds before following my lead. I was sure they were looking at Edward for an answer.

Bella and Nessie started comparing their first day at school, while the rest of us listened. As we were heading out of the lot, we passed Christopher's car. I made the mistake of making eye contact with him.

He looked back at me in surprise, and then confusion, before he was out of sight. I supposed I had been a little intense with my immediate dislike for him. _Serves him right_, I thought angrily. _Disrupting my life._

I looked ahead and noticed Edward was frowning at me in the rear-view mirror. I just shrugged, and ignored him. So what if he heard me, it's no big deal really.

All I would have to do is not look at this new kid, not talk to him, not go anywhere near him, and I'd be fine.

Right?

**A/N: I need reviews to keep going with the story, so please hit the review button for me.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I not own Twilight, just Meredith and Christopher.**

Phenomenon.

Tuesday morning found me at Nessie's mercy, as she tried in vain to tame my dark curly hair. It was too wild to do much with, unless you had hours to spare, which we did not. In the end I pushed her hands away and put my hair up into its usual messy bun. She pouted at me in the mirror, and it was hard for me to resist that face, so I compromised and told her that she could tie a ribbon or something in it. She chose a gold coloured one from her collection.

"You can keep it," she said once she's stood back to admire her handy work, "it matches your eyes."

It did match my eyes, but I was sure that it would have matched any Cullen family member's eyes. A common trait we all shared thanks to our diet of animal blood. Anyway, I ended up leaving the ribbon in my hair for the rest of the week.

School, the monotonous drone that it is, was much like it had been the previous day; at least it was until lunch time.

Bella was sitting next to Edward as usual, and had a keen expression on her face as I approached, like she wanted to tell me something. I had always found her expressions were quite easy to read.

"Okay, spill," I said as I sat down next to her.

"I heard that he isn't actually new to town, Christopher Price I mean. He just took a year off school last year to look after his mom. She was sick and passed away from a brain tumour I think, anyway he now lives by himself," she said sadly.

This surprised me. I had immediately made the assumption that he was like every other human to cross my path. Having spent over three hundred years observing human behaviour, I thought I had seen it all, that I knew what to expect. This, I admitted was unexpected, but not unheard of.

"Oh," was all I offered her as a reply, wondering why she was acting like this was important to me. She smiled and turned her attention back to her husband, who was looking at me knowingly. His expression gave me the sudden urge to hit him. I had to shake the thought away. Since when did I have sudden urges? Wasn't I supposed to be in total control over everything I felt?

I was pulled out of my musings when I felt Christopher entering the room. Funny how I was so attuned to his presence. I wondered why that was? It was a question to ponder on a sunny day.

I watched with vague interest as he waited in line and collected his food; a salad, yogurt and a bottle of water. A healthy choice, I observed. Organic. He looked after himself. Well, that made sense, considering he lived on his own.

When he turned around, his eyes immediately sort me out. He paused, only for a moment, before finding a place to sit. He decided to sit at the end of a long table about half way across the cafeteria, facing me. I had a direct and unobstructed view of him, and the group of students at the other end of the table, whispering amongst themselves.

It was only then that I noticed how he separated himself from the rest of the student body. He ought to be surrounded by crowds of people, all milling to get to know the new/old student. Instead he sat there by himself, looking at me intently from under his bangs.

His choice of seat was deliberate. There was no mistaking that, he was sending me a message; _he wasn't scared._

I raised an eyebrow, for this could be considered a challenge. He had no idea who he was dealing with, silly human.

His foolishness almost made me laugh. Almost. I hadn't laughed in a while.

I had to look away, for I had just remembered that I was supposed to be ignoring him.

I admitted myself a little curious about his reaction to me and everything else about him, and though I wanted to, I didn't ask Edward what the boy was thinking. This was for two reasons; one was that I respected the boy's privacy, and second was that I could not bring myself to ask for Edwards help.

_Me and my pride_, I thought dryly.

I tried my best to ignore him in our next class, and for the rest of the week. I only slipped up a couple of times during lunch when I would look at him when he first entered the cafeteria. He continued to sit at the same seat, always facing me, always on his own. Why did he sit on his own? Why didn't he talk to anyone? I had noticed this during both classes I had with him. Maybe he was just the silent type.

I couldn't help but notice other things about him too, like the way he tapped his pencil on the table when he had finished his work early in class. During the brief glimpses I allowed myself of him then, I found it difficult to read his expressions. Human faces were usually very easy to read for me, but his face was so collected. The one time I recalled seeing an excessive amount of emotion on his face was during that first lunch period when he'd seemed angry at me. I still wasn't sure what that was about.

He never offered his knowledge when the teacher asked a question to the class, but when he was called upon personally, he always had the correct answer. So he was smart, above average intelligence perhaps, though he didn't like to show off.

Okay, so I was more than a little curious. I shouldn't be curious at all, he was just another human. _Then why_, I asked myself reluctantly, _was he so hard to ignore_? A question that frustrated me beyond anything else.

We never exchanged any words during class, except for on Friday afternoon, when he knocked his phone off the table by accident after he was startled by the bell at the end of the lesson. As I watched the phone fall, I immediately recognised it as the second image I'd seen in those visions I'd had. So maybe they did mean something...

I was already standing when this happened and I picked the phone up without thinking.

"T-Thanks," he said in surprise. I then realised what I had done. I was supposed to be pretending he didn't exist. I hoped he didn't think I was a nice person just because I helped him.

"Sure," I said dismissively, handing over the phone quickly before rushing out of the room. I was getting careless.

...

Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Rose were back from college by the time we got home. I had intended to talk to Alice immediately about my visions and what they meant, but she and Jasper were already having a private moment upstairs, and I was not going to interrupt that.

So instead, that night found me spread out over the couch listening to Rosalie and Nessie talk about their week. I wasn't particularly interested in anything Rose had to say, but I was being polite to her for Esme's sake, martyr that I was.

It was during Nessie's description of her gym class when I gasped. It was like a chill had run through my entire body, all the way through to my fingers and toes. But vampires don't get cold, so it couldn't have anything to do with the temperature.

The chill slowly faded, and I was confused. Had I finally lost it? Gone bonkers and started imagining things again? I let out a breath and relaxed back into the sofa. Yeah, I had to be.

But then the chill, or whatever it was, came back, this time stronger than before. I barely had time to analyse it because it was pulling me away somewhere. I had to go, to follow it. It felt like that was the only way to make the feeling go away.

I stood up and ran out of the house without another thought. This was the first impulsive thing I'd done in a long time. No one followed me, possibly being too used to my odd behaviour to care.

It was dark, so no one would see me sprinting across the country side if they were out. I enjoyed running, the feeling of the wind in my hair, my long powerful limbs moving so swiftly, nothing could catch me. But the feeling was lost on me right now. Only one thing seemed to matter.

The pull took me all the way into town to...the supermarket? I concentrated for a moment. No, something was in the supermarket, around near the back.

I jumped onto the roof, looking for the source of the pull. Having had time to think in that moment gave me the chance to analyse what I was feeling, or more specifically, who I was feeling, and an idea started to form.

I was getting close, I could feel it. When I got to the back of the store, which was restricted to staff only, there was a door that was ajar; the walk in freezer. Sure that this was where I was supposed to go, I walked inside.

The temperature dropped dramatically once I was in, too cold for humans to stay in here for too long without wearing Eskimo clothing or something. The place was big enough to preserve all the supermarkets stock that had a short shelf life. Aisle's of meat and other produce lined up against the wall. About three quarters of the way along, one of the metal shelves had fallen over, and under it was...

"Christopher," I whispered, shocked.

I wasn't shocked to see him there, I'd felt his presence when I was close enough. I was shocked to see him in the condition that he was in. One of his legs was trapped under the shelf, while the rest of him was curled up, trying to keep warm; he hadn't worn Eskimo clothing or anything of the like. He didn't appear to be conscious either.

I used my vampire strength to lift the shelf off of him, and stood it up strait again. I didn't smell any blood, so the skin wasn't broken, though that didn't rule out internal injuries. I picked him up gently, and brought him outside, where it was warmer.

I realised that what I was doing was stupid, that this was a huge risk I was taking on behalf of my family, but somehow, _somehow_, I couldn't bring myself to care. It was like all that mattered at that moment was saving him, like an impulse or reflex. It wasn't a conscious act, which would annoy me later on when I had time to think about my actions.

My brain had started to think logically again. There was no way to explain what I was doing back here, too many questions. Someone else needed to find him and get him some medical assistance.

As luck would have it, I heard someone just on the inside of the supermarket building doors. I propped Christopher against the door of the freezer, and looked around for something to make a big noise with. A shopping trolley, a clipboard, and a broken wooden crate were my choices. Since the crate was already broken, I decided to use that. I tore a plank out of the crate with ease, and then proceeded to throw it with the strength of a human at the supermarket doors. I quickly jumped on the roof to watch what happened next.

Everything else happened exactly as I'd hoped. The human in the supermarket paused what he was doing and opened the door to investigate what was made the sound. He was a middle aged man of average height and build who had a manager's badge on his chest. He quickly spotted Christopher (I had positioned him so that it was impossible to miss his unconscious form) and rushed over to him.

I continued to watch from my vantage point as the manager called an ambulance, which got there in less than two minutes thanks to the small distance between the hospital and supermarket in this tiny town.

The paramedics quickly had the boy on a stretcher and in the ambulance vehicle. I listened to them talk about his medical condition. I had a degree in medicine that I had received years and years ago, so I knew that the boy would live. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. I was...relieved? O-kay...

It was time to go home. I moaned internally. They would have questions. Hell, I had questions. What was happening to me? How did I know the boy's life was in danger? Why was I so relieved?

I wasn't sure I was ready for those questions to be answered, or ready to answer my family's questions. I had just done something exceedingly heroic. And it felt...it felt _good_. I wasn't sure I was ready to let that feeling go. So I took my time getting back home.

I tried to distract myself from the upcoming conversations I was about to have, to enjoy these last moments of peace while I can. But Christopher's face kept popping into my mind; pale and unconscious, close to death. This caused me more alarm than it should have.

Finally reaching the back steps of the mansion that we called home for the moment, I paused knowing that they were all in there waiting for me. I sighed. _Might as well get this over with._

When I entered the main living room, an explosion of sound hit me. It seemed everyone was trying to talk to me at once, all with their own questions or concerns.

Nessie and Esme had come up to me as soon as I had entered the room, fussing over me, asking if I was alright.

Rose was the loudest, screaming about exposure, blah blah blah. How predictable. Emmett was trying to calm her with a hand on her shoulder, but she looked too angry to notice.

Carlisle and Jake seemed genuinely concerned for the human's well being. Carlisle was asking about his medical condition, while the dog just wanted to know if he was okay.

Jasper, though a little annoyed at the risk I took, seemed more interested in how I knew Christopher was in trouble, which was what I was more interested in as well. He was going on about different theories he had based on my ability.

The only people not joining in the fray were Edward, Bella and Alice, who all seemed too calm about this, like they knew something...

I made a mental note to ask them about it later, but right now, I had to stop the madness.

"Oi!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, successfully getting everyone's attention. "One at time, please!" Rose didn't hesitate, and pushed in front of everyone to get to me.

"What were you thinking?" she yelled, a furious expression on her face. She stood at about 5'9", an inch and a half taller than me, and did look quite impressive, intimidating even. But I had faced much scarier thing than her in my life so I wasn't the least bit frightened.

"Relax Rose, no one saw me," I said through gritted teeth. Just because she doesn't scare me didn't mean that she couldn't get on my nerves. Like, a lot.

"Yes but-"

"Thank you Rosalie," came Carlisle's calm voice cutting Rose off, "Meredith, why don't you tell us what happened?"

So I told them.

**A/N: Review?**


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